1 Samuel 21-22 (David & The Holy Bread / Saul Kills the Priests)

David on the Run and the Holy Bread at Nob

All right, let's turn to 1 Samuel chapter 21. Tonight we're gonna cover two chapters. So that'll be 21 and 22, but just to bring everyone up to speed, we ended last time with David and Jonathan coming up with this plan to see whether or not it was safe for David to come out of hiding.

Basically, Jonathan agreed that he would go and speak with his father, Saul, the king. And long story short, that didn't work out too well. Saul, not only did he still wanna kill David, he got so angry at his son, Jonathan, for defending David that he threw the spear at Jonathan.

So it became very clear that as long as Saul is alive, David is gonna have to live his life on the run. So for the rest of the book, chapter 21 through the end, chapter 31, David is gonna be on the run.

He's gonna be wandering. But remember, God's anointing is still on his life. So over time, David, as he goes from place to place, situation to situation, he is going to draw many people unto himself. Men will follow David and he's gonna form something like his own small army.

And in that way, David, once again, is a type of Christ in drawing many people unto himself. And there's gonna be more things that tie in as well. But let's just start reading and I'll comment as we go.

First Samuel 21, starting in verse one, it says, "'Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. "'And Ahimelech was afraid when he met David "'and said to him, why are you alone? "'And no one is with you.'".

Remember, David is a high ranking government official. And imagine if the vice president showed up somewhere by himself. You're like, something's not right here. I think that's not the way it's supposed to go.

Verse two, "'So David said to Ahimelech the priest, "'the king has ordered me on some business "'and said to me, do not let anyone know anything "'about the business on which I send you "'or what I have commanded you.

"'And I have directed my young men to such and such a place.'". So this is true or false? Yeah, this is not the case. But David figures if he tells him the situation that actually now I'm a fugitive and the king wants me dead, if David tells him that, he figures he's probably not gonna wanna help me out, which probably would have been true.

So where is this place, Nob? You don't really read about it in scripture. It's kind of debated. It's somewhere in and around Jerusalem. Some think it's a holy site on the top of the Mount of Olives where the tabernacle apparently was set up, but we're not exactly sure.

But for David to arrive unannounced, clearly Ahimelech the priest knows something is wrong. But it's David, so he helps David. Verse three, now, therefore, David says, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand or whatever can be found.

And the priest answered David and said, there is no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread if the young men have at least kept themselves from women. And then David answered the priest and said to him, truly women have been kept from them or from us about three days since I came out.

And the vessels of the young men, that is their bodies are holy. And the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated in the vessel this day. So the priest gave him holy bread for there was no bread there, but the show bread, which had been taken from before the Lord in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.

So under normal circumstances, David or anyone else would not be allowed to eat this bread. It's consecrated bread. Those of you who, like today, we don't have a concept of this really, but if you were brought up Catholic and the wafer up front and the host in the bread they keep in the tabernacle, it's consecrated, right?

You wouldn't just take it and throw it away or give it to whoever, like they see that as holy and only certain people at certain times can eat it. Well, that's kind of the way it was here. David was not allowed.

No one was allowed to eat the bread except for the priests, but this is a special circumstance. Now, if you remember from the sermon a few weeks ago in Matthew 12, Jesus in connection with the Sabbath day, he brought up the same event.

So when David says the bread in effect is common, it's similar to what Jesus said about the Sabbath, how it is right to do good on the Sabbath, even though the Sabbath is a special day and technically you're not supposed to work.

When someone is in need, you can make an exception. And the same thing here. No one was allowed to eat the bread, but this is a special circumstance. He's in need, so we make exceptions out of mercy or necessity.

Okay, so just to kind of help you understand a modern example maybe, let's say the speed limit is 40 miles an hour. Well, can you think of an example where a police officer would be totally okay if someone was breaking the speed limit?

Let's say a man is, you know, he's got his wife in the backseat and she's in labor and they're driving to the hospital. Who's, yeah, who's been in that situation? Were you pulled over? Yeah, but you know, if a cop pulled you over on a normal day, you might get a ticket if you're going 65 in a 40, right?

But if the cop knows that or saw that, he's going to make an exception out of, you know, compassion, out of necessity. So, but people who, people throw around the word today, legalistic, like a legalistic person would only care about the law.

Like, I don't care what your excuse is, you can't do it because that's the law and that's the bottom line. So that's kind of what a legalistic person would say that David, you're not allowed to eat the holy bread under any circumstances.

So that's legalistic or acting legalistic. The opposite is being licentious. These are people who just break the law of God just because they feel like it. And then they call people legalistic if they say anything about it.

But the balanced person seeks to obey Christ and wants to obey the law and does obey God's law. But at the same time, you know, you have to make allowances for people when they're in need and have compassion on people.

So that's the situation here. Normally, David couldn't eat the bread, but he was allowed. A Himalek realizes the need. And again, Jesus tied that in with the Sabbath. Okay, any questions on that? I think that's pretty simple to understand.

So Himalek the priest, who is a Himalek? Does anyone know? He is a He's Eli's great-grandson, isn't he? Yeah, he's the grandson or great-grandson of Eli. So if you've read 1 Samuel or if you followed along with this whole study, you know something about Eli.

More on that in a second. But yeah, Himalek is a descendant of Eli. Look at verse seven. "'Now a certain man of the servants of Saul "'was there at the tabernacle that day, "'detained before the Lord, "'and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, "'the chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.'".

So this is one of Saul's men. And Doeg was a bad guy, okay? Bottom line, he was a bad dude. So he works for Saul. And the fact that he's there and David sees him, David knows this is a potential problem.

Okay, now there's an eyewitness and it's someone who's a ranking official with Saul. So this is gonna come back to bite David a little bit. Verse eight, and David said to Himalek, "'Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword?'.

So he needs food, he needs weapons. He says, "'For I have brought neither my sword "'nor my weapons with me, "'because the king's business required haste.'. "'So the priest said, "'The sword of Goliath the Philistine, "'whom you killed in the valley of Elah, "'there it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod.

"'If you will take that, take it, "'for there is no other except that one here.'. And David said, "'There is none like it, give it to me.'". So we see that the sword was stored away in the tabernacle and hey, perfect, David said, I'll take that one.

So verse 10, "'David arose and fled that day from before Saul "'and went to Achish, the king of Gath.'". So where does David go? He goes from the tabernacle. He knows one of Saul's men just witnessed this.

So he figures, word's gonna get out pretty soon. So David's afraid now. Where does he decide to go? Okay, Gath, but where's that? What's significant about Gath? It's in Philistia. Yeah, it's in Philistia.

So David is fleeing to enemy territory. Why would he do that? The fact is, because Saul is after him and because Saul is such a madman at this point, David feels safer among the Philistines than he does among his own people, which is kind of sad.

But here's the advantage for being among the Philistines. They're not looking for him, right? Saul is, so David flees to Philistia. Verse 11, "'And the servants of Achish said to him, "'To the king, hey, is this not David, the king of the land?

"'Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, "'saying, Saul has slain his thousands "'and David his 10 ,000.'". So, that must've been a popular song. Even the Philistines know it, you know? Saul must be pretty upset.

That song is spreading all, that's a top 10 hit. But it's interesting, they call David king of the land. Was David king of the, you know, in God's eyes he is because God rejected Saul and Samuel anointed David.

So, he is the legitimate king in God's eyes. But are the Philistines even aware of all that? No. So, it's interesting they would call him the king. Because in a very real sense, David is the true king of Israel.

So, Saul is still on the throne. I think it's safe to say Saul, at this point, there is an illegitimate king on the throne of Israel. And this is one of the points I wanna make to kind of tie it in to the application at the end.

Israel, at this point, is what we might call apostate. Okay, so they have an illegitimate king, a rejected king on the throne. And now let's go back to Ahimelech. Who is Ahimelech? Grandson of Eli the priest.

So, if you have read 1 Samuel, you know that God spoke words of judgment against Eli and his house. Remember, Eli had two wicked sons. He failed to restrain them. So, God says, you know, your line is finished.

So, long story short, you have an illegitimate king on the throne. And really, in God's eyes, the priestly line of Eli, including Ahimelech, this is a rejected line as well. So, you have, he is high priest.

He's acting as high priest. But, in a sense, he is an illegitimate high priest, at least in God's eyes. So, that's saying something about the nation that the king and the high priest, God has rejected both of their lines, all right?

So, Israel is apostate. Saul and Ahimelech, they hold these high offices, but in the sovereignty of God, you know, what's, and you see it on the screen, the chapter 21 is David and the holy bread. Chapter 22, what does Saul do?

Saul murders the priest. So, not to give the end way up front, but Saul is gonna end up killing Ahimelech. So, in the sovereignty of God, he uses this situation where Saul does an evil thing and kills the priest, but it was actually fulfilling God's will in that sense, because God spoke words of judgment against his house.

So, this is the same type of thing. If I can just draw a comparison with Israel's rulers in the New Testament. So, I say Israel is apostate here. They have people in power who are ruling, but they're not approved of in God's eyes.

Is that what you see in the pages of the New Testament? Yeah, who is ruling in the New Testament? Who? Okay, well, you have Herod, who is a, you know, illegitimate king, who wasn't technically a king, but he was kind of a puppet for Rome, right?

Caesar was ruling over the land, and God didn't recognize Caesar's authority. But who is ruling Israel? You know, yeah, okay. Pilate, but he's, but who are the actual rulers of Israel? It's the scribes, Pharisees.

In Matthew 23, two, Jesus says the scribes and the Pharisees, they sit in Moses' seat. Therefore, whatever they tell you, observe, you know, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works, where they say and do not do.

So, the leaders of Israel in the first century, basically, they're not recognized by God. Jesus says, okay, they're in power, but you know that they were plotting to kill the Son of God. So, Israel was apostate then in the first century, and they're kind of in and out of apostasy even back then.

And you could make another comparison, because if David is a type of Christ, Saul is persecuting David. Well, what were the Pharisees doing? They are persecuting Christ, and you kind of see that theme throughout the Bible.

Another comparison, yeah, Saul is the illegitimate king, blinded by his hatred, persecuting David. So, Saul ends up killing the priests. Well, fast forward to the New Testament, you find the Jews. The Jews, as far as the king goes, they say, we have no king but who?

Caesar. Yeah, so the Jews, and they hated Jesus, blinded by their hatred of Jesus so much, they were willing to say, we love Caesar. Caesar is our king. Something they normally would never have done. What did Caesar do to the Jewish priesthood in 70 AD?

He annihilated them. He killed them all. So, I don't know, it's just, yeah, destroyed the temple, destroyed the nation. So, some interesting parallels. Okay, yeah.

Well, I think it's interesting, they say, we have no king but Caesar, and yeah, they're not recognizing that their god is their king God, even the Jewish god at that point.

Yeah, and I said, you know, we love Caesar. Obviously, the Jews did not love Caesar. The Jews hated Caesar, but they were willing to sing Caesar's praises because of their insane hatred of Jesus, and that's the way Saul is.

He's doing things that are just beyond the pale. Okay, so anyways, back to the story. David is now in Philistine territory, and the king of Gath recognizes him. Verse 12, now David took these words to heart about that song, David has killed his thousands.

David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish, the king of Gath. So, he changed his behavior before them and pretended, what? He pretended madness. So, basically, David starts acting like he's crazy.

He starts, you know, spitting on himself, and his beard is covered in it, and he's just, like, scratching the walls, crying out, and just acting like he just escaped from a mental asylum. Now, you know, why is David doing that?

Well, we see, verse 13, so he changed his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, let his saliva fall down on his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, look, you see, this man is insane.

Why have you brought him to me? Have I need of a madman? Like, why are you bringing this guy to me? He's nuts. So, what does he do? He lets David go. So, you know, you could say this is a, who thinks this is a great plan?

Like, thinking on his feet, like, this is a really smart thing to do. All right, no one's volunteering that, but, yeah, okay, all right. Yeah, I, you know, it worked. Hey, it worked, he's alive. Therefore, chapter 22, verse one, therefore David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam.

Okay, now there's kind of two ways you can look at this. That David, yeah, he's thinking on his feet, kind of a crazy idea, but it works. He's free to go. But I read a few commentaries, and that's what I do preparing for these messages, just to kind of see what people are saying about this.

And at least one or two commentaries said, hey, this is proof, David is not trusting in God. You know, David should have just, you know, not done this and waited for God to deliver him. Now, we know, you know, looking back, that yes, God would have had to deliver David in some way if he just sat there and let the king take him in and put him in prison.

But, you know, if you're David at the moment, this is one of those situations where you trust in God, but you ask yourself, how much do I have to contribute? Like, I believe that God is going to work.

I believe that God is going to deliver me, but maybe I need to help God out a little bit. Now, that can be dangerous. But at the same time, if you want God, if you want something to happen, you can't always just sit there and do nothing.

So, to me, some commentator, you know, a few thousand years later, sitting at his desk in safety, you know, kind of passing judgment on David, he wasn't really trusting in God. Like, I don't know, I'm not going to say that.

I think it was clever. That's just my opinion, and I agree with you.

It's just to say God didn't give him the idea.

Yeah, I mean, to me, it doesn't say that David was wrong. Now, the lie that he told to Ahimelech, I mean, that was a lie, that's true, and David's going to end up regretting it at the end. But this, I don't know.

I wouldn't pass judgment on David for this. It's interesting, though, this cave of the Dullam, verse, well, turn to Psalm 57 for a moment. Many people believe that David wrote Psalm 57 while he was at this cave.

And it's an interesting study, sort of like we did with the kings and the prophets and how these men line up and what events in the prophets' lives lined up with what event took place in the lives of the king.

Be an interesting study to see David's life in 1 and 2 Samuel and when the Psalms were written in comparison to his life events. I think most people know Psalm 51, right? David, in a sin with Bathsheba, when he repented, he wrote Psalm 51 in response to that.

But it's believed that Psalm 57 was written while he was at this cave. So I'm just going to read the beginning of it. David says, be merciful to me, oh God, be merciful to me, for my soul trusts in you.

In the shadow of your wings, I will make my refuge. Until these calamities have passed by. And the word adolum, so the cave, is actually called refuge, so that's what it means. Now, was it named that after the fact, based on what David wrote in Psalm 57?

Probably, but still, my point is, what does David say? He says, I trust in you. So under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, David said he was trusting in God. Hey, I believe he was trusting in God, so.

Sometimes we pass judgment on biblical characters, and it's like we say with Peter, he's the apostle with the foot-shaped mouth. But yeah, how many times have I said something stupid? Like, I always feel a little uneasy, like, oh yeah, Thomas, and he had the doubter.

You know, it's like, who are we in comparison with these men? Yeah, but that's just something we end up doing, because that's what everyone does, so we repeat it. But I don't wanna pass judgment on David.

He's a more godly man than any of us. But he's not perfect, but he came up with this plan, acted like a crazy man, and now he's hiding out in this cave, and in this cave, this area became sort of his base of operations.

The cave of Adullam was 17 miles southwest of Jerusalem, so this is in which territory of Israel? Which tribe was in control of this land? What? It was Benjamin and Judah, but this is the land of Judah.

Many of David's followers and family would have been around, and that's many of the people who end up becoming part of his army, people who knew him and were related. So here's the thing, but it was also very close to Philistia.

So David's sort of on the border of Judah and Philistia, and because he's close to the border, Saul really can't send his military out to the border, because if the Philistines see that, it could provoke a war.

So David knows this is a safe spot to kind of hide out, and he really puts together, I don't know, you could call it a band of outlaws. That's how Saul would probably see it. Look at verse one of chapter 22.

After David arrived at the cave, it says, "'When his brothers in all his father's house heard it, "'they went down there to him, "'and everyone who was in distress, "'everyone who was in debt, "'and everyone who was discontented gathered to him.'".

So anyone who had a problem, wasn't satisfied, with the way their life was going, but hey, let's join David, let's join his militia here. So that's why I call them sort of a band of outlaws. I mean, they're probably some rough people, but David will take them.

So he became captain over them, and there were about 400 men with him. It's only gonna grow from there. So David takes this ragtag group of guys, and he turns them into soldiers. And remember, overthrowing Saul is not the goal.

This is not what David is doing. Might look like that's what he's doing, but he's not trying to build an army to lay siege on Saul's palace or anything like that, right? We all agree that that is not the purpose.

Even when David had the chance to overthrow Saul, remember, he refused. He said he would not lay a hand on God's anointed. But at the same time, it is like there's one nation, apostate Israel under Saul and Ahimelech, and then you have almost like a rival nation under the real king, this group out in the wilderness with the true king and just a much smaller army.

Verse three, then David went from there to Mizpah of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, please let my father and mother come here with you till I know what God will do for me. So he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.

So why would David want his parents staying with the king of Moab? These are the enemies of Israel normally, right? Why did David want this? To stay with Saul? Yeah, well, he doesn't know what Saul's gonna do.

Saul might send some soldiers out to kill his family. So David goes to the king of Moab, verse five, it says, now the prophet Gad said to David, do not stay in the stronghold, depart and go to the land of Judah.

So David departed and went into the forest of Herod. Okay, now, this is a prophet that doesn't get much attention in the Bible. Matter of fact, before this study, I kind of forgot all about him. Gad, who's heard of the prophet Gad?

I mean, before just now. Last time I read this chapter. Okay, last time you read the chapter. The Bible doesn't say a whole lot about him. Basically, well, Samuel, Samuel's sort of fading from the scene.

Samuel's gonna die in chapter 25. He's a prophet everybody knows. But in 2 Samuel 24, 11, Gad is called David's seer. If you remember, the prophets were first called seers. So at this time where David is alive, they're not called prophets, they're called seers.

And then the name gets changed afterward. So basically, Gad will be to David what Samuel was to Saul. Now back to the situation with the King of Moab. Why was the King, we know why David went to the King of Moab, keep his family safe.

Why did the King of Moab wanna help David? Yeah, he knows at this point that Saul and David are on the out. So he probably figures an enemy of my enemy is a friend. If I have David on my side, this will come in useful later on.

That's probably part of it. Also remember David has, he had Moabite blood in him, if you will. Based on what? Ruth, right. So David's great grandmother was Ruth, who was a Moabitess. And now whether or not they were aware of that or not, it's hard to say.

But really, this is just further proof that David had Moabite blood in him. It's just further proof that reminds us that the bloodline was not everything. What's important is not so much your DNA, although that did matter in the Old Testament.

Does it matter now? Does your DNA, what your family, your heritage, does that matter now in the new covenant? No, I mean, I believe there's a future for Israel. So in the future, it's gonna come into play somehow.

But even back then, that wasn't really what truly mattered, what mattered. Wasn't your bloodline, it was what you believed. It was your faith. Being a true Israelite, it wasn't about the blood. It was about whether or not you loved and obeyed God.

I was listening to someone on the radio, and they said, I don't wanna be hard on this person because I realize Christians say this, and I think I know what they were trying to communicate, but they're like, I just wanna give a shout-out to all of God's people tonight.

I just wanna give a shout-out to God's people, the Jews. And listen, because Israel is at war, and they're being attacked, and it was a nice sentiment that, hey, we support you, we're praying for you, so I get all of that.

But it just struck me as odd. Like in the year 2023, I'm giving a shout-out to God's people, I mean, not me, I'm just a Christian. I'm giving a shout-out to the real people of God, the Jews, but they don't believe in Jesus, though.

So again, I support Israel, and it's like, what, do you support Hamas or something? No, not at all. But in this age, under the new covenant, Christians are God's people, okay? So if you wanna give a shout-out to the people of God, give a shout-out to Christians.

But anyways, even back then, at this point, being a true Israelite, it wasn't the circumcision in the flesh, it was circumcision of the heart. Here's what Paul said in Romans 9, 6. He said, they are not all Israel who are of Israel.

What does that mean? Again, let me put it this way. Was Saul a true Israelite? Was he an Israelite? Yes. Was he a true Israelite in the eyes of God? Not at all. You remember when Jesus, in John 1, Jesus met Nathanael, and he said, this is an Israelite indeed.

Remember that? Like, Nathanael, he is a true Israelite. Were the Pharisees true Israelites in God's eyes? No. Paul said in Romans 2, 28 and 29, for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not for men, but of God.

So the scribes, Pharisees, those who reject Jesus were not true Israelites, but Nathanael was. Why? Because Jesus said, in him, there's no deceit. I mean, he knows God, he loves God, he obeys God, and Nathanael ended up believing in Jesus.

He's a true Israelite. Saul is not. Is David a true Israelite in the eyes of God? Yes. Is Doeg, well, he's an Edomite, but even if he was an Israelite, he converted, but is Doeg gonna be a true Israelite?

No. So it's like today, someone says, well, I'm a Christian. Okay, based on what? Well, I was born into a, people used to say, well, I'm an American, right? That's what people said a generation or two ago.

Well, I'm a Christian. Well, I was baptized, or I was brought up in a Christian home, or I go to church. Yeah, but what truly makes you a true Christian, it's what's in here. Okay, so we all agree with that?

Yeah. All right. So this next section, proving Saul is not a legitimate king, not even a true Israelite in his spirit, starting in verse six, it's titled, Saul Murders the Priests. It says, when Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered, now Saul was staying in Gibeah under a tamarisk tree, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants standing about him.

Then Saul said to his servants who stood about him, here now you Benjamites. Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds?

All of you have conspired against me. Okay, so Saul is angry, and you know, he's got his spear in his hand, so I'm sure these guys are getting a little nervous here. Now, is that true that they have all conspired against him, or is this Saul's paranoia speaking?

Yeah, I don't think this is true, but now Doeg sees an opportunity to rise up the ranks. Look at verse nine. Then Doeg, the Edomite answered, who was set over all the servants of Saul, he said, I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech, the son of Ahitab.

And he inquired of the Lord for him, and gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine. So the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitab, and all his father's house, the priests who were in Nob.

And they all came to the king. And Saul said, here now, son of Ahitab. And he answered, here I am, my Lord. Then Saul said to him, why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, and that you had given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me to lie and wait, as it is this day.

Now, is that what Ahimelech did? Was that really what he was conspiring? No, this is all Saul making this stuff up in his mind. Verse 14, so Ahimelech answered the king and said, and who among all your servants is as faithful as David?

Who is the king's son-in-law? And who goes at your bidding and is honorable in your house? Like, of course, I'm gonna give David what he wants. He's your family. He's your right-hand man. Why wouldn't I help him?

But I'm not conspiring against you. Verse 15, did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me. Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to any in the house of my father, for your servant knew nothing of all of this, little or much.

And the king said, you shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father's house. I mean, he's not content just to kill him. He just wants to kill everybody in sight. And the king said to the guards who stood about him, turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David.

And because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me. But the servants of the king would not lift their hands to strike the priests of the Lord. So they wouldn't do it. So he turns to Doeg, verse 28.

And the king said to Doeg, you turn and kill the priests. So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck the priests and killed on that day, 85 men who wore a linen ephod. Also Nob, the city of priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep with the edge of the sword.

Now here's the interesting thing. Here's the kind of sick part about this. You remember why Saul was rejected in the first place? Remember God told him to do this exact thing to the Amalekites. Go in and wipe out the Amalekites.

Don't leave anyone or anything alive. And Saul wouldn't do it. Saul refused to kill the Amalekites. But what he wouldn't do to Israel's enemy, he was willing to do to his own people. I mean, this shows you Saul was demonically afflicted.

If not demon possessed, certainly demonically oppressed. So with a madman on the throne like this, you understand why David felt safer among the Philistines. So all the priests were killed except one.

There was one survivor. And he seeks refuge with David. Look at verse 20. Now, one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitab, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the Lord's priests.

So David said to Abiathar, I knew that day when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul, I have caused the death of all the persons of your father's house. I think if David could go back in time, he probably would have taken care of Doeg.

But David feels responsible. Why? Because David's a normal human being with feelings and a conscience. Is David really to blame? I mean, he really couldn't know that Saul would go this far. But David cares.

Saul is the one to blame. Saul and Saul only. But in closing, trying to draw some sort of application from this, David, while he was on the run, I said he drew many followers to himself. So David, in this way, is a type of Christ.

Jesus also had to live, in a real sense, on the run. Remember, Jesus said the son of man has no place to lay his head. Wherever Jesus went, or a lot of places, he was threatened. They tried throwing him off a cliff one place.

People were plotting his death. So Jesus had to be very careful because enemies were everywhere, just as David is going through that same thing. But as David gains followers, wherever he goes, Jesus also gained followers.

David was God's chosen king. But siding with David at this point was risky, right? If you're an Israelite and David comes into town, you need to make a choice. Am I gonna go with him, or am I gonna stick with Saul?

So siding with David carried a price. Same with Jesus. People had a decision to make. And Jesus told them, if you're gonna be my disciple, you need to first count the cost. Also, the nation under Saul, I think, represents disobedient Israel.

Those who followed David represent true Israel. Something similar is seen on the pages of the New Testament under the leadership of the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. That is apostate Israel. Jesus and his followers represented true Israel.

So a true Israelite today is one who believes in Christ. And finally, we could extend this application even further. There are true Christians, and then there is the false apostate form of Christianity.

So New Testament, you had apostate Israel, true Israel. Today, we have true Christianity and apostate Christianity. And today, just like it was back then, true believers are always in the minority. David and his men, 400 men.

How big was Saul's army? A lot bigger. David, his men were in the minority. Jesus and his disciples were in the minority. Same thing today. Among the visible church worldwide, true believers are in the minority.

And even through church history, apostate Christianity has even persecuted and killed true Christians throughout the ages. So following God and obeying his word often brings opposition, even from those who claim to know God and follow God.

Because Saul would still have said, I'm an Israelite and I worship the Lord. So going along with the majority and those who are in power, hold institutional authority, whether it was Saul or the Pharisees, it seems safe to be with the big numbers, right?